411 
epithet applicable to sucb transactious, be the counters 
shares or real estate, but wheu it is with produce, luil 
produce which iBalmoft a necessity ot'lifc, it is v/ellnigh 
impossible to cinp'oy too strong terms iu commcutiug 
on Buch dealings. Planters may congratulate them- 
selves that the eoruer cc llapred when it di'i, for some 
time will have elapsfd btfore their ciops reach the 
London market, aud sontidence amongst the dealers will 
have been partly restored. One ol the moat noticeable 
features ot the recent collapse was tlio way iu which 
deeleis held off, though it was well-known that the 
trade was poorly supplied, and for some months pro- 
vioiisly had been carrjing on a band-tc-mouth busi- 
ness. So scon as confidence is restored, wo can iintici- 
pate a firmer tune in the mi>rketB aud bs there are ab- 
Bolntely no stocks of the superior graues of coffee which 
the Southern Indian p'.antutiona produce, the salesrooms 
will probably witness keen competition at the begin- 
ning of the coining year. — Madras Times. 
NOTES ON PEODUCE AND FINANCE. 
An Outcry Against Tea.— It \a evident that 
a few fussy people whose sisters, cousins, and 
aunts have at seme lime ot other suffered 
from "nerves," which they bave baen told is 
the result of too much tea, are trying to create a 
panic iu the public mind on the subject. It ii quite 
the proper tbing in advanced female circles to sneer 
at tea as utterly unsuited to the modern Miuervn. 
All cultured women should abhor tea. One of the 
jourual^j written especially for ladies Las called ntten- 
tiou to the enormities of tea-drinking by ladies — 
excetses whicb, in the opinion of the enemies of 
the tea-po\ ate grievously aggravated when the cup 
which cheers but not iatbriates is accompanied by 
buns, soouei*, short-brcn!, and especiBlly by the dirk 
aud dyspeptic plumcake. The toes of tea maintain 
that there is an utter lack of dignity in the spectacle, 
of a bevy cf ladies sitting at marble tables munching 
indigestion-breeding plumcako and sipping equally 
unwhole-£ome tea. Mrs. Fawcett is quoted as an 
authority on this matter, and in the article referre l to, 
her opinion, real or alleged, is quoted against the 
pernicious habit. 
Tea and tub Kindred Cuesb.— But the opposition 
to tea drinking does not como from the ladies alone, 
Iu the IJailt/ 2Vew.i of Tuesday last we find the fol- 
lowing :— " It ia not ladies only who are slaves of the 
teapot. According to a correspondent of 2'he Granta, 
the fascinating beverage — as Dr. Jobusou called it — 
ia working havoc with the nerves aud brains of 0am- 
bridge undergraduates. They start the day by drinking 
large qumtities — the ' kindred curse ' coffee is occa- 
sionally substituted, but it is pretty much the same. 
In the afternoon they htivo tea again, and not once 
only, but many times. This witness has hitiifelf 
partaken of fivo teas in one atternoan. After Hall, 
more ' slops,' and then, perbsps about eleven at night 
if the vice has made sufiicieat progrees, un aban- 
doned man will brew more tea, and eventually retire 
to rest ' a limp, miserable, tea-sodden wretcb.' An 
instance is e.^cited of an excellent Eugby pla) er who 
came to Cambridge with a good chance ot ' obtaining 
his bine ' in his second season. Bat before that time 
a marked and painful change had set in. His digestion 
was gone, his band — once tbo steadiest — trem- 
bled pitifully. People sidd be had given way to 
drink.' He had only given way to tea. ' Who,' 
asks this ardent reformer, ' will bo the first to join 
the Light Blue Ribbon Army with a pledge against 
— Ti'i? ' '• 
An AijsuKD Position. — The position seems to be 
this : Simply because a few people have made them- 
selves claves to the custom ot afteanoou tea, and have 
carried it to excess in every way, a few m.ore equally 
absurd people are crying out that all the evils in the 
universo arise troiu t;a cirinking. Beoaute Mrs. IMau- 
levro doses her friends with toa and cake until they 
become ill, i>r Mro. Gump stews her tea until she is 
poisoned, thtn fore te.i is gonorally injurious. All this 
is childish. As the Jhiil;/ TehyrKph remarks, at the 
lose of a rooent article outea dciukiug = — " As regards 
England, we wholly fail to see that the consumption of 
tea is immoderate, that it has injured the health of 
the community, or that it has diminished the native 
grace and dignity cf Kuglishwtmen. Envy, malice, 
and all unoharitabler.ess are much more conducive to 
indigestion than 5 o'clock tea." If tea does not agree 
with tome people thej should not drink it. There are 
plenty with whom it does agree, and these are not 
likely to give it up because a small minority rail against 
it. 
An Old Story. — But in addition to the strong- 
minded ladies who abu;e tea. and the weak-netved 
students who ^ay ditto, tea has enemies more subtle, 
witness the following paragraph taVen from the Echo:-— 
"Thus Sir Edward Clarke: — 'Tea to be useful should 
be, first of nil, black Oliina tea — the Indian tea whicb 
is beipg cultivated has become so powerful in its eft'ecta 
upon the nervous system that a cup of it taken early 
in the morning, as many people do, so disorders tie 
nervous system that those who take it actually get into 
a state of tea intoxication, and produces a form of 
nerve disturbance which is most painful to witness." 
If the rtfereuce iu the above paragraph is to Sit 
Edward Olarko, the Solicitor-General, it would be 
interesting tokLOw when that learned gentleman 
became a tea expert. If the paragraph is meant to 
refer to Sir Andrew Olark, it would be useful to learn 
how the celebrated physician obteined his informatioa. 
If the paragraph is inserted merely by some friend 
of the Chinese importer who keeps a "bogey man" in 
his advertisement department, it is merely an instance 
of the vast resources of oivilisatioE, and should be 
taken warily and with much earcasm. This attack on 
tea drinking has, however, to be reckoned with, and 
it would be useful if some scientific opinion were 
taken on the subject, and the minds of con.(iumorB 
disabused once an J for ail of the idea tiiat tea drink- 
ing in moderation is injurious. 
A Forecast in Tea — In an article on the "Tea Trade 
for 1891,' the C'ii?2«» indulges in prophecy. It fays : — 
"Viewing the ever-increasing acreage in both Indian and 
Ceylon — and in the latter colony a coffee estate of 300 
acres can at a pinch be converted into a tea garden 
in the space of a single season, so well supplied are the 
planters with nurseries and skilled Jabovir — vs'c cannot 
but forecast a gradual reduction in price as a r alu-al 
result of increased produclion. Oeylon alone, when 
the acreage at present planted comes into full bearing 
four years hence, will be in a position to swamp the 
market with tea just bs she did first with cofff'e 
and then witti cinchona. The masses who but five 
years ago could buy very little tea worth driidting 
at anything under 2s a pound will soon be able to 
buy much the same grade of tea at a shilling. It 
now remains to see what other effects this probable 
over-production will have. Proprietors of a group 
cf large and paying gardans, fearing, as they do, a 
fall iu prices, will h» anxious to realise while their 
books slow bandsortio profits for a series of years. 
We lave already heard the names of various properties 
destined for formation iato a company, to bo regis- 
tered iu London, and which is to be offered to the 
public at a price eBiimitod to pay 12 percent on the 
ordinary shares. At pre ent very few tea companies' 
shares iire officially quoted in the London Stock E.':- 
chauge, although in Calcutta such securities are dealt in 
every day. Those that are quoted here pay good 
dividends and maiatain th?!r price quite aa well as 
either breweries or industriiil undertakings. Provided 
an allowance be made for a fall iu the price of ten, 
there is no reason why new planting companies should 
not prove a suitable aud remunerative investment for the 
public, provided the directors receive the bulk of their 
remunerai^ion from dividend results. If any such flota- 
tions make their anpearf.nce this autumn it may bo as 
well if shareholders in t'le old companies, whose shares 
are likely to loic rather than to gain ground during 
1892, were to consider the advisability of realising with 
a view to transfer their money to now venture^. The 
shares of the A sam, the Djrjoeliug, the Dooirs Tea, 
the Jokai ,\ss\m and the Jorohaut Tea Companies all 
command a good premium and pay handsome dividends, 
and the field is still open for other promising under- 
I taking of a similar nature." 
